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My new Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge

Well, after a bit of dillying and dallying, I finally got 'round to trying a home trial of this cart. After a couple of hours dialling in vtf, and esp. azimuth, it basically sold itself, and I bought it an hour later!
It's without doubt the fastest cart I've ever experienced, surpassing the Decca London Reference, but with none of that cart's tipped up 'whiteness'. But this blazing speed is combined with the natural sweetness of the Lyra Parnassus. It has the neutrality of the Transfiguration Orpheus with the dynamics and involvement of the ESCCo-modded Zu Denon 103. So, fast AND sweet, and neutral AND involving, combinations often too challenging for other so-called SOTA carts. All the carts I've mentioned I've had in my system over the years. But I admit, I haven't heard current contenders to the crown (Lyra Titan/Atlas, Ortofon Anna, Clearaudio Goldfinger etc) to make comparisons.
It's tracking really is superlative, 3d soundstaging/dimensionality is beyond the room constraints, and I really believe it has the least artifact-laden sound of any cart I've heard, with NO aural evidence of a diamond carving thru wax. It's really complimenting what's already a neutral, fast and dynamic analog rig in my system (Trans Fi Salvation direct rim drive tt/Trans Fi Terminator air bearing linear tracking arm)
spiritofmusic
cfluxa's avatar
cfluxa
127 posts
 
Spiritofmusic - thanks for the response, extremely helpful. Indeed, I am fascinated by the strain gauge after stumbling on Jack Roberts' review just last week. I happen to have a setup very similar to the one he had previously - Shindo pre, low-watt SET driving Lowther-type speakers, and I am amazed at the notion that the strain gauge could soundly beat the Shindo Giscours with a Miyabi cartridge!

I have been weighing buying a first-rate low-impedance cartridge to match the Shindo and my Hashimoto SUT, and am now pretty much trying to decide between that and selling the Shindo to make a bet on the SG. Your testimony is now pushing me toward the latter. I wonder whether I would miss fiddling with different carts and switching them out, or would the SG be so good I wouldn't look back. It does seem there are a few documented cases of that now!

Given the importance of azimuth, is it so sensitive that you think it could become an issue with regular sweep arms, versus your linear tracker?
lewm
13,194 posts
 
If SS would make an inexpensive adaptor so this cartridge could be used with a good linestage, I think many more would be sold. What holds the cartridge back in the market, IMO, is just what Pro said; most of us have an expensive phono stage that we are in love with. Adopting the SG means dumping or storing away the phono stage and spending a not inconsiderable amount of money on an SG PS that cannot be used with any other cartridge. Then too, there are reviews that don't completely agree with yours, Spirit. I'd love to hear one in my own system before making a purchase decision.
cfluxa's avatar
cfluxa
127 posts
 
Spirit - to Lew's point, I was also wondering about the fact that the SG is essentially a solid-state device, and was wondering if you think there's anything detectably "solid-statey" about the sound? Being a tube-o-phile who generally isn't enchanted with even top-notch solid-state gear like ASR, that's one of my key concerns here. I do love Shindo and VAC, and am pretty impressed by these reviews that say the SG has beat components from both those manufacturers. I honestly can't imagine solid-state gear doing that.
cfluxa's avatar
cfluxa
127 posts
 
Spirit - sorry for the dribbling, but one other question for you - what is your take on the charge that the SG is ruthlessly revealing of bad recordings, with the result that one gets corralled into mainly playing clean, high-quality pressings? Is this also something that's mitigated with proper setup?
spiritofmusic OP
828 posts
 
Hi Cfluxa. I would really urge you to push for a home demo. Spkrs and cart are the two components that I believe set the character of an analog fronted system the most, and you need to be 110% sure you like that character.
Your 3 points - 99.9% of installs are going to be in a pivoted arm, so the q was more if the SG would work in my ultra short 3" wand linear tracker: there should be no issues with a 9" or 12" pivoted --- I don't have any experience of tube phonos, although I run a tube pre (Hovland HP200) and tube monoblocks (Audion Black Shadow SETs) and am a convert to the sound of glowing bottles: all I can say is that the SG is the most liquid sound I've yet heard from analog, that I don't wish for anything --- and re challenging lps: the consensus is to go for the slightly cheaper "5" stylus profile as opposed to the priciest "6". I believe the "5" comes as standard with the kit. The 6's ruthlessly revealing nature makes it a stellar performer with some lps, and too challenging with substandard ones, whereas the 5's more forgiving nature avoids all this hair pulling. My 5 stylus leaves me wanting for nothing.
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